Are you an economics major?

Question

If you are, what did you do after college? did you attend a graduate school? what kind of graduate school? What do you do now? what is your salary? Is it a stable job? are you happy with your economics major? if not, what do you wish you majored in instead of econ?
I'm thinking about majoring in it, but i just have so many questions...
serious answer please.
thanks

Answer 1

Yes I am an economics major.

I worked in the economic planning arm of the government. Then worked in multilateral organizations such as World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. The pay and benefits in these organizations is great, but you need an advanced degree (MA is the minimum requirement, PhD is the best option) to move up the ladder.

I have a Master's degree in Economics.

But I make more as an entrepreneur than as an economist. I earned in 2 months from my website what I earn in 1 year as an economist.

Answer 2

Yes, I was an econ major. I've been out of college for 15+ years. Didn't work in my field until 12 years ago. I now am a sales assistant to a financial planner & investment representative. I am fully licensed to sell life, health & disability insurance as well as mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc. but I prefer to do all the 'back end work' involved and leave the actual face-to-face selling for my 'producer'. Having the econ major helped me to learn this business more quickly and understand all the goings on with financial markets etc. It is a stable job, my salary is on the low end but I get a % of my producer's commission because the harder I work to make him more productive, the better my reward. (he is a top producer with our company, #2 for investments out of about 5000 producers nationwide) Hope this helps you.

Answer 3

Economics in high school is A LOT different then Economics in University. Economists are traditionally and typically very very boring individuals who will put you asleep quicker than a hypnotist.

You want a serious answer, well here's how a morning class in Economics runs (taken from a second year class transcript, try not to fall asleep while reading it!):

"Today we're going to talk about Interest Rates, Expectations and Equilibrium. Having seen how exchange rates are determined by interest parity, we now take a look at how current exchange rates are affected by changes in interest rates and in expectations about the future, the two factors we held constant in our previous discussions. We will see that the exchange rate (which is the relative price of two assets) responds to factors that alter the expected rates of return on those two assets. Let's plunge into the effect of changing interest rates on the current exchange rate. We often read in the newspaper that the dollar is strong because US interest rates are high or that it is falling because US interest rates are falling. Can these statements be explained using our analysis of the foreign exchange market? To answer this question we again turn to a diagram. Figure XYZ shows a rise in the interest rate on dollars, from R1/$ to R2/$, as a rightward shift of the vertical dollar deposits schedule. At the initial exchange rate E1/$/DM, the expected return on dollar deposits is now higher than that on DM deposits by an amount equal to the distance between points 1 and 1'. As we have seen, this difference causes the dollar to appreciate to E2$/DM (point 2). Because there has been no change in the DM interest rate or in the expected future exchange rate, the dollar's appreciation today raises the expected dollar return on DM deposits by increasing the rate at which the dollar is expected to depreciate in the future."

What I just pasted is really really easy but so very very boring. And economics is a subject matter that builds on past courses and concepts. So you have to stay on top of your work at all times because a concept learned in econ 201 will come back to haunt you in econ 431 two years later.

If you like Economics for the business side of things... major in Business. You'll have a blast. It's fun to go to everyday. There's tonnes of group projects where you get to meet people. You learn more applicable skills for the private sector and people keep their eyes open when you speak to them. If you like Economics for the math side of things.... well, major in math. Companies love hiring mathies. You meet far more entertaining people who like to play dungeons and dragons after criticizing Andrew Wiles answer to Fermat's last theorem. And they also love to see how many pints they can drink without puking. Also if you aspire to be part of the UN, do an M.P.A. (Masters of Public Administration) with an International specialty instead. You'll have a far better chance of getting through the machinery of government bureaucracy as a strategist than as an economist (who typically end up as statisticians).

Best of luck!